Positioning means for welding devices



April 9, 19:10. E, REED ET AL 2,196,941

POSITIONING IEANS FOR WELDING DEVICES I Filed April 27, 1939 3Sheets-Sheet 1 m\\\\\\\\\\\\ mm .OY

[II a" BY 1 [uszzvz M2515 ATTORNEY,

POSITIONING MEANS FOR WELDING DEVICES Filed April 27, 1939 3Sheets-Sheet 2 1N VENT CR5. [a 1855a 4005' ace/v5 R. M25

ATTORNEYS.

A 1940' E. REED ET AL rosmomue umus FOR WELDING nnvrcss Filed April 27,1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 m, K L Kw MW 1 fi E 3 mm J A Patented Apr. 9, 1940UNITED STATES POSI'IIONING MEANS ma WELDING DEVICESneneeemdnueneamegrueevmeomoy ldgnilflto'l'hebmericanllollinghlillOompony,lllddletown,0hio,aeorporationof0hio am April 21, 1939, SerialNo. 210,400

1 Claim. (01. 113-59) Our invention relatm to menu for positioning workpieces for the formation of butt welds. It is, for example, of especialutility in the operation of joining sheets to form a strip of indefinitelength, as in the copending applications of Pay and Reed, Ser. Nos.132,824 and 132,825 filed March 24, 1937. The details of the mechanismand procedure of the said copending applications do not form alimitation upon our present invention, but are illustrative of a fieldof utility for it:

and our invention will be described in connection with so much of suchmechanism as is essential to an understanding of our contribution to theart, for the purpose of an exemplary showing.

In the operation referred to, the trailing end of the strip and theleading end of the work piece which is to be joined to it must beaccurately butted, the line of juncture must be located accurately atthe welding line. and the sheet and strip clamped in accurately locatedpodtion before any welding may be done. This is tedious and timeconsuming.

It is an object of our invention to provide a means for rapidly locatingone of the work pieces accurately and clamping it. since, once this isaccomplished, it is simple and easy to butt the end of the other workpiece against the located end of the first work piece.

It is an object of our invention to accomplish the accurate location ofthe first work piece in an automatic manner, thereby making theoperation very rapid and eliminating errors arising from the humanelement. As applied to the locating of the trailing end of means forautomatically moving the strip forward.

Since the work pieces are not always of uniform lengths, our objectsinclude the provision of automatic moving and positioning means whichwill be effective in spite of length variations.

These and other objects of our invention which will be set forthhereinafter or will be apparenttooneskilledinthe artupon readingthesespecifications, we accomplish by that certain construction andarrangement of parts and by that sequenceofstepsofwhichweshallnowdescribe the aforesaid exemplary embodiment.Reference is made to the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing our invention applied to a weldingapparatus.

F'lgureflisavertiealsectionalviewthereoftaken alongthelinesI-I ofF'igure1.

Figure 3 is a partial sectional view showing the the welded strip, it isour object to provide mechanical construction of locating fingersemployed by us.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a switch mechanism, andtaken along the linesHofFlgure 1. 5

Figure 5 is a plan view of a shearing, welding and coiling assembly.

Figure 6 is a semi-diagrammatic view showing one stage in the locatingoperation.

Figure 'l is a similar View showing a final stage.

Figure 8 is an elevational view of the locating finger construction.

Figure 9 is a wiring diagram for the apparatus automatic means forpositioning the trailing end of the welded strip accurately at thewelding line. This is the most difilcult positioning operation becausethe great length of the welded strip and its engagement by otherapparatus in the line makes 5 formed at the welding station, feeds thewelded strip forward until the .trailing end of the sheet which has justbeen welded to the strip is brought near to but not quite to the weldingline. Then the feeding mechanism is stopped, thus holding a the strip atthe feeding mechanism. Means intermediate the welding device and thefeeding device aforesaid are now brought into play to bend the strip soas to bring its trailing end beyond the welding line. Positioningfingers at the welding line are next brought upwardly to provide meansfor establishing the desired welding position of the trailing end of thestrip. Next the means which has taken up the strip so as to bring itbeyond the welding line is released so that the trailing end of thestrip moves reversely until it comes into contact with the positioningfingers so that it assumes the-desired position. Clamping means at thewelding line next are energized to fix the end of the strip in thisposition. Thereafter the positioning fingers are withdrawn and the freshsheet can quickly and easily be brought with its end in abutment withthe already podtioned trailing end of the strip. All these operations,with the exception of the positioning of as In the practice of ourinvention we provide an the fresh sheet, are arranged to be carried onautomatically in proper sequence.

Referring first to Figure 5 for the general assembly of apparatus usedin welding thin silicon steel sheets, we have shown a shear I having ashear table 2, and clamping means I for sheets 5. At this station theends of the sheets are sheared while being clamped with a given pressureeffective over a given area of the sheets. The numeral 6 in Figure 5indicates generally a welding station having an approach table 1. Atthis station the sheet 5 is welded to the trailing end of a preformedwelded strip 8. At the line of weld, it is necessary, as taught in thecopending applications referred to above, to clamp the trailing end ofthe welded strip and the end of the sheet under the same pressuresefi'ective over the same areas as were used during shearing in order toget an accurately butted joint. The particular operation of welding neednot be here described but can be ascertained in the copending cases. Thenumeral 9 represents a device for rolling the weld in the strip; and thestrip is turned so as to be disposed vertically and is coiled as at II.A pinch roll arrangement ll serves after the formation of a weld at 6 tofeed the strip forward.

Referring now to Figure 2, the pinch rolls ll suitably mounted inguideways initially feed the strip 8 to the position shown where its endin has not quite come to the line of weld. The pinch rolls H mayconveniently be mounted upon the frame l2 which supports the weldingapparatus. This frame may be provided with brackets l3 which bear sideguide rollers l4 contacting the edge of the strip for keeping it inposition along the center line of the machine. The clamping meanscomprises a magnet l5 and an upper clamping member I between which thestrip passes. As it approaches the welding device the strip passes overa limit switch I1 for an actuating arm I8. This actuating arm is helddepressed by the strip; but when the end of the strip has released it,it serves to stop the drive for the pinch rolls II in such a way thatthe end 8a of the strip occupies substantially the position shown inFigure 2. The pinch rolls are driven by a motor l9.

When the pinch rolls have been stopped, they act as a clamp for thestrip at a portion interspaced from its end. On the frame of the machinewe mount a shaft 2' bearing an eccentric drum 2!. The shaft is driventhrough suitable gearing or the like by a motor 2!. Normally theeccentric drum lies in the position shown in Figure 2 so that its uppersurface is below the level of the strip when the strip is fiat. Theshaft 20 as it rotates carries the eccentric drum 2| around, bumping thestrip up in the center so as to pull the end of the strip beyond theline of weld. This is illustrated in Figure 6 where it will be clearthat the drum 2| acts as a take-up nieans for the strip. when the end ofthe strip has been moved beyond the line of weld through the open clampl5, l6 positioning fingers 23 are moved upwardly into position adjacentthe clamp. The construction of these fingers is illustrated in Figures 3and 8. Here the finger proper is formed from angularly bent iron orsteel and is mounted by means of links H and 25 on a support 26 on theframe of the machine or upon the clamp 15. These links are so construoted and proportioned as to permit the finger to occupy either theposition shown in solid lines where it is completely out of the way ofthe welding operation or the position shown in dotted lines in which theend of the finger extends upwardly into the plane of the sheet materialto be welded. For operating the finger we provide a carriage member 21siidable in ways and connected by means of a link 28 to the finger. Itwill be clear from the figures that when the carriage 21 moves upwardlytoward the support 28 the finger will be moved toward the position shownin dotted lines. The link II can be made adjustable as shown. Thecarriage is connected by a rod or link 2! to an operating lever II. Toavoid shock, a coiled spring Il may be placed about the rod 2| bearingupon an abutment at the lower end of the rod and an abutment 32 on theframe or clamp at the upper end of the spring. We prefer to operate thefingers by means of an electrical solenoid, though they may be otherwiseoperated if desired. The lever II as shown in Figure 2 is pivotedbeneath the clamp l5 and is connected by a suitable linkage 33 to thearmature N of a solenoid 35. We may provide as many of the fingersacross the weld line as may be deemed desirable. Each finger may beoperated by a separate solenoid or the lever 30 which is attached to thesolenoid may be non-rotatably mounted upon a shaft 36 as shown in Figurel to which other levers or arms for operating other fingers may berigidly mounted, so that one solenoid will operate all of the fingers.

Referring again to Figure 6, it will be clear that as the eccentric drum2! continues to rotate, the slack in the strip will be diminished, andthe end la thereof will move forwardly again until it comes into contactwith'the fingers I! and is positioned thereby with great accuracy at thewelding line. When this position is attained. the magnetic clamp II isenergized bringing the clamp member it down against the end of the stripto hold it in position.

Thereafter the return of the eccentric drum 2| to its original positionwill give a configuration to the strip as shown in Figure '7, the pinchrolls ll remaining stationary. The trailing end of the strip has,however, been completely and accurately positioned and is now clamped;and the fingers ll may now be withdrawn as shown in Figure 7 by thede-energization of the solenoid. It is now only necessary to bring thefresh sheet 5 onto the table 1, pass its end through the clamp 31, IIand bring its end into abutment with the end of the strip which hasalready been positioned. This may readily be done by hand. As soon asthe fresh sheet is so positioned. the magnetic clamp 31, II is energizedand the welding operation may be started.

As we have indicated, we prefer to provide means for the automaticsequential operation of the elements we have just described. In Figure 9we have given a wiring diagram which is an exemplary means for thepurpose. Power voltage for the several motors is supplied by lines 89.These lines feed a starting box and controller I for the pinch rollmotor I. The pinch roll motor I! has a starting circuit connected with abutton II by which the operator may start the motor. The motor also hasa holding circuit connected with the trigger switch II so that the motorwill be stopped as we have before explained when the trailing end of thestrip passes the trigger switch. The motor 12 which drives the looper isfed through a control box I! from the same mains II. The trigger switchii is also connceted to a control circuit for the motor 22 so that whenthe pinch roll motor I 9 is stopped the looper motor 22 is started.

For successive operations, we now rely on switches 43, 44 and 45 on theshaft 20 of the eccentric cylinder 2|. These switches serve to controlthereafter both the operation of the looper motor and in part theoperation of the positioning pins and the clamping means. The lining pinsolenoid is shown as fed from the mains 39 through a relay switch 46.When the eccentric drum 2| has reached its maximum height, the switch 44on its shaft energizes the relay 46 and thus energizes the solenoid 35bringing the lining or positioning pins into the position shown indotted lines in Figure 3. The windings 41 of the clamp l5, l6 are shownas fed through a control box 48 from lines 48. This arrangement waschosen because the magnetic clamping means must be energized by directcurrent whereas it is usually preferred to use alternating current forthe rest of the apparatus. Hence the two main feed circuits 39 and 49.Now the magnetic...

controller 48 for the clamp windings is provided with an energizingcircuit connected to the switch on the shaft 20 so that when the shafthas rotated to the proper position, allowing the strip end 8a to comeback against the fingers 23, the clamp will be energ zed. We provide inconnection with the clamp member It, as shown in F g ure 4. a switch 50which will be actuated by the clamp it upon energizatlon thereof. Thisswitch 50 is in the circu t of the relay 46 and serves to de-energizethe solenoid 35 as will be readily understood. It is also in the circuitof the control box 42 and the switch I! as well as the switch 43 on theshaft 20. It serves to set the control circults for the looper motor 22so that th s motor will be de-energized when the eccentric cylinder 2|has returned to the position shown in Figures 2 and '7. at whichposition a holding circuit w ll be opened by the switch 43. Manualcontrol switches 5| are provided for the clamp windings 41 as shown.

By the means just described the several operations for the position ngof the trailing end of the strip are carried on in proper sequenceautomatically as will now be clear.

Modifications may be made in our invention without departing from thespirit of it. Having thus described our invention, what we claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In welding apparatus welding means at a welding line, and clampingmeans thereat. means for feeding strip-like material past said weldingline, means for stopping the feeding means before the rear end of saidstrip-like material has passed said welding line. and means intermediatesaid weld ng means and said feeding means for taking up said material bybending it out of its plane, whereby said end of said material is movedwith respect to said welding line.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 including automatic means forcorrelating the operations of said feeding means and said taking upmeans.

3. In welding apparatus welding means at a welding line, and clampingmeans thereat, means for feeding strip-like material past said weldingline, means for stopping the feeding means before the rear end of saidstrip-like material has passed said welding linev and means intermediatesaid welding means and said feeding means for taking up said material bybending it out of its plane, whereby said end of said material is movedwith respect to said welding line so as to pass said welding line, amovable abutment means at said welding line, and means for moving saidabutment means into the line of movement of said strip-like material.

4. In welding apparatus welding means at a welding line, and clampingmeans thereat, means for feeding strip-like material past said weldingline, means for stopping the feeding means before the rear of saidstrip-like material has passed said welding line, and means intermediatesaid welding means and said feeding means for taking up said material bybending it out of its plane, whereby said end of said material is movedwith respect to said welding line so as to pass said welding line, amovable abutment means at said welding line, and means for moving saidabutment means into the line of movement of said strip-like material,and means for causing said taking up means to pay out said strip-likematerial so that said end thereof moves reversely to come against saidabutment means.

5. In welding apparatus welding means at a welding line, and clampingmeans thereat, means for feeding strip-like material past said weldingline, means for stopping the feeding means before thev rear end of saidstrip-like material has passed said welding line, and means intermediatesaid welding means and said feeding means for taking up said material bybending it out of its plane, whereby said end of said material is movedwith respect to said welding line so as to pass said welding line, amovable abutment means at said welding line, and means for moving saidabutment means into the line of movement of said strip-like material,and means for causing said taking up means to pay out said strip-likematerial so that said end thereof moves reversely to come against saidabutment means, and automatic means for correlating the operations ofsaid feeding means, said taking up means and said abutment means.

6. In welding apparatus welding means at a welding line, and clampingmeans thereat, means for feeding strip-like material past said weldingline, means for stopping the feeding means before the rear end of saidstrip-like material has passed said welding line, and means intermediatesaid welding means and said feeding means for taking up said material bybending it out of its plane. whereby said end of said material is movedwith respect to said welding line so as to pass said welding line, amovable abutment means at said welding line, and means for moving saidabutment means into the line of movement of said strip-like material,and means for causing said taking up means to pay out said strip-likematerial so that said end thereof moves reversely to come against saidabutment means, and means to actuate said clamping means when said endof said strip-like material has come against said abutment means.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said feeding means aredriven by a motor, and in which said stopping means include a switch forsaid motor positioned so as to be actuated by said strip-like material.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said feeding means comprisepinch rolls, driven by a motor, and which said taking up means arerotary eccentric means also driven by a motor, and positioned to deflectsaid strip-like material.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said feeding means comprisepinch rolls, driven by a motor, and which said taking up means arerotary eccentric means also driven by a motor, and positioned to deflectsaid strip-like material, and automatic means for correlating theoperations of said feeding means and said taking up means, saidcorrelating means comprising switch means actuated by said strip-likematerial for stopping said feeding means and starting said take-upmeans, and means in connection with said last mentioned means forstopping it after a predetermined cycle of operation.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which said feeding meanscomprises pinch rolls driven by a motor, said taking up means comprisesa rotary eccentric means driven by a motor, and in which said means formoving said abutment comprise electromotivq means, and automatic meansfor correlating the operation of said several means, comprising switchmeans actuated by said strip-like material for stopping said feedingmeans and starting said taking up means, and switch means in connectionwith said taking up means to actuate said moving means for said abutmentmeans.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which said feeding meanscomprises pinch rolls driven by a motor, said taking up means comprisesa rotary eccentric means driven by a motor, and in which said means formoving said abutment comprise electromotive means, and automatic meansfor correlating the operation of said several means, comprising switchmeans actuated by said strip-like material for stopping said feedingmeans and starting said taking up means, and switch means in connectionwith said taking up means to actuate said moving means for said abutmentmeans so as to bring it into the plane of said strip-like material, andfurther switch means in connection with said taking up means forstopping said taking up means and for actuating said clamping means.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which said feeding meanscomprises pinch rolls driven by a motor, said taking up means comprisesa rotary eccentric means driven by a motor, and in which said means formoving said abutment comprise electromotive means, and automatic meansfor correlating the operation of said several means, comprising switchmeans actuated by said strip-like material for stopping said feedingmeans and starting said taking up means, and switch means in connectionwith said taking up means to actuate said moving means for said abutmentmeans so as to bring it into the plane of said strip-like material, andfurther switch means in connection with said taking upmeansforstoppingsaidtakingupmeansandfor actuating said clamping means,and switch means actuated by said clamping means for effecting return ofsaid abutment means.

13. In apparatus of the character described, welding means at a weldingline, feeding means for strip-like material inter-spaced thereirom, andmeans for deflecting strip-like material located intermediate saidwelding means and said feeding means, said feeding means, when stopped,acting to hold said strip-like means at a point interspaced from itsend, whereby said deflecting means is enabled to move said end withrespect tosaidweldinglinesoastobrlng saidendacross said welding line andback again, and abutment means at said welding line to position said endupon its reverse movement.

14. A process of positioning work for welding which comprises, as aseries of steps automatically occurring in sequence, feeding the workforward, holding it at a point interspaced from its end, deflecting thework between said point and said end so as to bring said end beyond apreselected position, providing an abutment at said position, andallowing said end to move back to said position.

15. A process of positioning work for welding which comprises, as aseries of steps automatically occurring in sequence, feeding the workforward, holding it at a point interspaced from its end, deflecting thework between said point and said end so as to bring said end beyond apreselected position, providing an abutment at said position, andallowing said end to move back to said position, and clamping said endat said position.

16. In apparatus, of the character described, welding means at a weldingline, feeding means for strip-like material interspaced therefrom, meansfor holding the material at a point interspaced from the welding means,and movable means for deflecting the strip-like material locatedintermediate said welding means and said holding means, and havingsufllcient range of movement to cause an end of the material to be drawnpast said welding line and returned thereto.

17. Apparatus as claimed in claim 16 in which said feeding means, whenstopped, acts to hold said material.

E0 REED. EUGENE R. MIZER.

